COUNTER TERRORISM: Police patrolling the streets of London as the city is placed on high alert

Despite the recent terror attacks in France and Germany, police forces are being selective about who they recruit in a bid to find the best officers.

A number of forces are reportedly struggling to get the the right quality of volunteers.

Chairman of the Police Federation of England and Wales, Steve White, said "The best case scenario is two years in terms of recruiting an extra 1,500 officers.

"It is vitally important that standards are maintained.

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PATROL: Armed police are stationed at major tourist spots

“It is vitally important that standards are maintained”

Police Chairman, Steve White

"If there is an attack it is unlikely to be an isolated incident."

Mr White also added that the quality of resources will have to be spread equally across the country as the attacks could happen at multiple places at the same time, like in the ISIS Paris attacks in November 2015.

The number of armed officers has dropped by eight this year, according to Home Office figures released in March.

Despite this police chiefs believe that they are on track to get the extra marksmen in place over the next 18 months.

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SECURITY: Armed police at St Pancreas International Station following the attack on Brussels

Plans to boost Britain's security came after 130 people were killed in the atrocity at the Bataclan and at restaurants and bars in the French capital.

Since then mainland Europe has been hit with numerous ISIS-related attacks.

On Sunday, Met Police Comissioner Sir Bernard Hogan-Howe declared neighbourhood policing as "our major weapon" in the fight against terrorism.

However tight budgets have forced some chief officers to cut the coverage.

ISIS jihadists

Iraq and Syrian jihadists, including the Paris and Brussels attacks suspects.

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Tarik Hassane planned to execute British soldiers in an ISIS terror attack and was given a life sentence today

The Federation chief added: "Chief constables are having to make very difficult decisions in terms of managing their budgets and managing the competing priorities that they have.

"We must make sure that we have the relationships built up between local communities and the police service, so that people can ring the police or speak to their bobby on the street and have the confidence to raise things with them.

"If you don't have police officers having that daily contact in these communities you're never going to build these relationships.

"You can't fix this overnight."

Experts have said that police in France in the wake of the recent attacks have struggled to contain the threat because of poor community relations.